


A Royal Visitor to Arendelle

by M J Holyoke (wholeyolk)



Category: Brave (2012), Frozen (2013)
Genre: F/F, Femslash, Getting Together, POV Third Person Omniscient, Post-Canon, X-Ship - The Crossover Relationship Exchange 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-18 00:32:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17570873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wholeyolk/pseuds/M%20J%20Holyoke
Summary: Princess Merida’s fiery spirit, it seemed, had broken through the ice of Queen Elsa’s heart.





	A Royal Visitor to Arendelle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silveradept](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/gifts).



In the many happy and prosperous years to follow the celebrated royal wedding of Queen Elsa of Arendelle and Princess Merida of Clan Dunbroch, it would be rumored that the two women fell in love because one was reminded of her sister and the other was reminded of her mother.

The lascivious implications of this persistent rumor were meant with no small amount of affectionate humor, however, because the Queen and the Princess were benevolent rulers much beloved by their two peoples. And, more to the point, as with all rumors, there was a certain ring of truth to it.

After the unnatural, magical winter which gripped Arendelle upon Queen Elsa’s ascension, the historically isolationist kingdom instituted a new “open gates” policy of outward-facing diplomacy, knowledge-sharing, and cultural exchange with its neighbors, and the Queen’s sister immediately took charge of several new initiatives in this vein, including a program of residencies for talented young people within the walls of the castle itself.

Seemingly overnight, Princess Anna succeeded in filling the castle to the brim with a high-energy hustle and bustle of up-and-coming artists, inventors, intellectuals, and athletes, and in short order Arendelle became renowned as a hub of culture and learning. Princess Merida arrived from Scotland under the auspices of this exchange program at the beginning of the second year of Queen Elsa’s reign, a bright Scottish lass of 17 years professing profound interest in the potentials and pitfalls of magic as well as a profound _disinterest_ in the institution of the politically advantageous marriage.

That the court of Arendelle’s legendary Snow Queen should be the perfect place for a young woman of such proclivities was beyond reasonable dispute. Magic used for good was accepted in Arendelle, and of course the Queen herself was a famed practitioner with inborn talent for ice sorcery. That she remained resolutely unwed—and had on at least one occasion prevented the overhasty marriage of Princess Anna to an unsuitable suitor—was also common knowledge. For her part, Princess Merida had had her own terrifying, near-tragic run-in with sorcery. Although the precise details of what had come to pass were not openly discussed, it was nevertheless widely known that injudicious use—or, some might say, abuse—of sorcery had placed Princess Merida and her family in grave peril.

What Princess Merida hoped to achieve in Arendelle was, as is often the way of such things, not entirely clear at the outset. At first, she was simply relieved to have escaped the unwanted attentions of would-be suitors who, in many cases, only became _more_ persistent in their wooing, not less, when it became evident that Princess Merida herself, and not some contest of strength or wits, would decide her future husband. When it came to the putative study of magic, her objectives were far more nebulous and open-ended.

She researched legends of the will-o’-the-wisps; she met with the trolls and learned their ways (and their songs); and she visited Queen Elsa’s soaring ice palace high in the mountains and its reigning abominable snowman. (She also had many a diverting summer afternoon conversation with Olaf, Princess Anna’s decidedly less-than-abominable snowman.) But before long, Merida concluded that there was only so much she could learn from observing the effects of magic and magical creatures and that real understanding would only be attainable through acquaintance with human magic _users_. As such, she found herself seeking an audience with Queen Elsa herself.

Princess Merida did this with some trepidation. The one other magic user of her acquaintance had been capricious at best, duplicitous at worst, and the consequences of meddling with spell craft had come very close to being disastrous.

Queen Elsa, too, had some reservations. Although she had learned not to close herself off or hide her true nature from others, she was cognizant of the tremendous power she wielded and the danger it could pose if she were to lose control of her emotions. She strove always, therefore, to be temperate and not to succumb to indulgent excess. To do her duty.

So they began slowly, feeling their intentions, and each other, out, meeting only for short periods, and sporadically. In time, though, they grew increasingly comfortable in each other’s company. Queen Elsa was drawn to Princess Merida’s ebullient personality and found that it awakened her from her occasional emotional torpor. Princess Merida was, in turn, drawn to Queen Elsa’s commitment to her duty and found that it focused her energies productively. Soon enough, Princess Merida was peppering Queen Elsa with questions about her magical powers, their extent and their limits, that Queen Elsa had never before considered, let alone knew the answers to.

Together, they resolved to discover the answers to some of Princess Merida’s burning questions. They tested the range of Queen Elsa’s ice magic, and its intensity. And, most importantly, they studied its precision. Queen Elsa had, after all, endangered the life of her sister twice already through the careless release of her magic, and keeping those around her safe was one of Queen Elsa’s top priorities.

Together, they experimented, and they discovered that bolts of Queen Elsa’s magic could not be stopped once thrown, though fortunately additional magics might be deployed to reverse their effects—in many cases, but not all. So, they practiced. And they practiced more. Princess Merida’s unparalleled skill with the bow and arrow was invaluable; she taught Queen Elsa how to aim fast and true.

They both worked hard, and they practiced every day. They became inseparable. Princess Merida remained in Arendelle for season after season after season, thrilled to have found a place with people who valued her strengths. Before either of them knew it, in the blink of an eye, 4 years had flown by, and the trust and affection between them had slowly but surely blossomed into something . . . something . . . _more_.

Princess Merida’s fiery spirit, it seemed, had broken through the ice of Queen Elsa’s heart.

Queen Elsa of Arendelle and Princess Merida of Clan Dunbroch were married shortly thereafter, and it was hard to say who had the most cause for celebration: the peoples they ruled wisely and well, or the families who never stopped believing in them.


End file.
